Flight aborts takeoff at LAX after 'loud bang'

A passenger jet headed from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Everett, Washington, had to abort take off on Tuesday morning after striking a bird, airline officials said.

Horizon Flight 2052, an Embraer 175 operated by Alaska Airlines, was accelerating down runway 25L at about 10 a.m. when passengers and crew heard a "loud bang," according to live footage recorded by AirlineVideos.

The pilot managed to slow the plane and return to the gate for inspection. A Horizon Airlines spokesperson later confirmed it was a bird strike.

“Our pilots are trained for these situations and exited the runway safely without any issue,” the airline said in a statement. “We are swapping guests to another available aircraft, and we apologize for any concern or inconvenience this experience may have caused.”

Bird strikes are extremely common in commercial aviation and are also extremely destructive and potentially deadly.

19,603 strikes were reported in the United States in 2023, an increase of 14 percent over 2022, according to a recent report from the Federal Aviation Administration, which called the issue “a growing concern” for safety.

Forty-nine people have died in bird strike incidents from 1990 through 2023, the FAA said.

Mitigation efforts typically involve removing potential habitats for birds, clearing trash and other sources of food, trapping and relocation.

The FAA is recommending that airports “widen their view” of how to control bird populations to include areas as far as five miles from the runways.